Book of the Month

DF's picture

Is Healthcare Reform DOA?

by DF 5/23/2009 - 8:34 pm   |

This Bill Moyers interview is a must-watch for anyone who cares about meaningful healthcare reform:

Washington's abuzz about health care, but why isn't a single-payer plan an option on the table? Public Citizen's Dr. Sidney Wolfe and Physicians for a National Health Program's Dr. David Himmelstein on the political and logistical feasibility of health care reform.

I don't think they can get away with not doing anything. I agree that single-payer ought is what we need, but Obama never endorsed single-payer, at least as a presidential candidate. And I suppose as long as everyone is insured, single payer doesn't matter much. If the government plan turns out to be better than private insurance plans, we'll either get better private insurance, or we'll put the private plans out of business and get single-payer. Win-win.

by Orlando 5/24/2009 - 12:21 am

Oh, they will do something. But if it's something that actually encourages health care costs to grow, that's just kicking the problem down the road for people in the not-too-distant future to deal with. Single-payer is the only way to go. Anything less is a fraud and a scam.

And, sorry to say, the U.S. government will remain dysfunctional until the financial power the lobbyists wield over Congress and the presidency is curbed. And by curbed, I mean eliminated. Political donations from anyone other than individuals have to be banned -- no unions, no corporations, no public advocacy groups.

by acanuck 5/24/2009 - 2:57 am (re: Orlando)

IMHO - Acanuck nailed it.  Unlike Orlando, I think it matters very much whether the coverage is  by single-payer or some other form because as long as private insurers remain in the game, they will bleed us dry.  Moyers' guests  pointed this out noting that in mixed systems - the tax payers get stuck with the expensive patients and the insurance companies make out like bandits.

by KRXA Hal 5/25/2009 - 9:44 pm

I think a government plan will put us on the road to single-payer. I'll be 100% shocked if we get single payer after this go-round.

by Orlando 5/26/2009 - 9:31 am (re: KRXA Hal)

I agree, single-payer is the only long-term solution.  But this could be a step in the right direction if healthcare refore includes:

  • A public option (anything less than that is meaningless)
  • Universal, mandatory coverage.  Otherwise, the system is doomed to failure.
  • An initial open enrollment period when insurance companies are not allowed to base rates on their medical history or risk factors.  Same kind of open enrollemnt you would have available to you through an employer-sponsored plan.  That way the insurance companies aren't allowed to cherry-pick the seemingly healthiest prospects.
  • No more pre-existing condition exclusions
  • No dropping unhealthy patients (or raising their rates sky-high so they are unaffordable to force the unhealthiest patients into the public option.
  • Controls on the ability of the private companies to be able to raise rates so drastically the force the most at risk patients into the public option.

The fact is many people with employer based healthcare get better coverage than medicare.  They will want to see the public plan in action before signing on.  This is an opportunity to address the problem of the uninsured as a first step towards meaningful health care reform.

by dijamo 5/26/2009 - 11:27 pm (re: Orlando)

Latest Comments

more